


Plus One

by trashyeggroll



Series: the feelin’ is reckless [4]
Category: Charmed (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Gen, Requests, beep boop give us more canon ensemble scenes you cowards, there's a little angst ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-15 22:42:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18678811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashyeggroll/pseuds/trashyeggroll
Summary: [between 01x19 and 01x20] In which Niko Hamada is the living embodiment of a surprised emoji with everything new she learns about magic.





	1. The Empath

**Author's Note:**

> From Tumblr anon: "Not Mel/Niko but something with Maggie and Niko could be interesting given Maggie knows Niko more than Macy so their bonding could be a fun one shot; then again Macy doesn't know Niko beyond now so maybe she could provide a connection with Niko Maggie can't because Maggie knows too much!"

“You shouldn’t text and walk.”

Since she  _ was, _ in point of fact, texting and walking at that very moment, Maggie Vera nearly tripped over her boots in surprise at the voice. A hand steadied her shoulder, and she couldn’t help but narrow her eyes up at a grinning Niko Hamada. 

“Stop  _ doing _ that!” wheezed the empath, putting a palm over her chest. “You’re like a pop-up ad.”

“Okay,  _ that _ time was an accident,” countered the investigator, somewhat believably. “But your sister’s pretty fun to scare. I guess maybe less now that I know she’s… Would she, like, fireball me or something? Nah, right? Hey, you wanna get coffee?”

Maggie didn’t need her powers to register the anxious energy coming off of the taller woman in waves, and she glanced around the campus quad before replying, “Sure. Something you wanna talk about?”

They started walking towards the nearby diner as Niko simultaneously nodded and shrugged.

“Is that a maybe?”

“Well, I… I’m just curious,” huffed the investigator, fiddling with her navy blue peacoat buttons. “About…” She swept her eyes both ways on the sidewalk. “...witch stuff.”

“Ah, I see.” Maggie resisted the urge to roll her eyes, which was truly for her mess of a time witch sister and not the naturally curious civilian walking beside her. She pitched her voice lower to prod, “What did Mel tell you?”

“She showed me her time freeze and some teleporting, I think. And the ring, of course.” 

Grinning like a kid the first time they go to Disney World, Niko held open the door of the diner, and they put in their orders before grabbing one of the twotops while they waited. The investigator looked like she might vibrate out of her seat with excitement, and Maggie felt the first flare of nervousness as her mind tossed out reminders not to give away the time spell, even if magic itself was out of the bag.

“So, can you  _ all _ do the freeze? And then you have spells?” Niko was asking, shoulders hunched forward so she could drop her voice in the crowded space. 

“We each have a specialty, I guess,” replied Maggie while trying to decide the best way to explain hers. “I’m an empath. I can read… thoughts.” When she saw panic start forming on Niko’s face, she quickly added, “But not  _ all _ the time. I can control it, and for now, I need to be touching someone with my bare hand to do it.”

The panic dissipated quickly, replaced by an endearingly reverent expression. “And people have no idea? They don’t feel it?”

Maggie held up her hands, tilting her chin to her thick black gloves. “No, but I also have empath safety rails.”

She could see wheels turning in Niko’s head before the investigator ventured, “So… if I think of a number, you could read it?”

“Pick between zero and a billion,” replied Maggie, feeling a grin spread over her face as she pulled off one glove. “Ready?”

Niko looked nervous, but she nodded and offered an arm, sliding off the ring with her other hand. 

The empath made sure no one was watching before placing her palm over Niko’s forearm. With it came the familiar rush of jumbled thoughts, and then Maggie was standing in a grayed living room between two people _ — _

_ “You’ve been spending  _ so much _ time with her,” sighs Greta, arms out and palms up, as if helpless to the accusation. “Come on, Nik, you barely even spend time with our friends anymore.”  _

_ “She  _ is _ my friend,” argues a red-eyed Niko with her own hands clenched in fists at her sides. “But that’s all, Greta. We’re  _ friends.”

_ “I know, and I want you to have that, it’s just…” The short-haired woman lets out a thick sigh and rubs the bridge of her nose. When she looks up, her expression isn’t angry—just upset. “Do you have feelings for her?” _

_ “Greta, no—” _

_ “We’re getting married  _ next _ week, and this whole shebang was  _ your _ idea to start. If you love me like you say you do…” Greta shakes her head. “Or if you don’t, I guess—I want you to tell me. Please, baby… just tell me.” _

The living room blinked away, and Maggie gritted her teeth to focus on the task at hand.. 

_ Zero. _

“Zero,” blurted the witch, blinking hard as she came back to herself with a jerk of her hand, away from the investigator’s sleeve. 

Mercifully, Niko didn’t seem to notice if Maggie had seen anything other than her number. She was still grinning broadly, and her eyes turned up to half moons with delight. “Okay, that’s pretty cool.”

“Niko, Maggie,” called the barista from the counter, and Niko quickly offered to get them as she slid back from the table.

Maggie was just about to panic over unintentionally seeing an intimate moment of the investigator’s life when she heard the barista add in a strangely high pitched voice, “Ni hao! Here are your drinks.”

When she looked up, Niko had paused at the counter, her eyes jumping between the barista’s face and their drinks. She gave the tiniest of head shakes, but just thanked him before grabbing the drinks and walking back to the table.

“Did he just—“

“It’s fine,” muttered the investigator, obviously trying to put back on a smile, as she sat back down.

Later, Maggie would admit to herself that it was mostly out of her own sense of guilt at what Niko didn’t know, rather than the casual microaggression, that drove her out of her seat and up to the pick-up counter, ignoring the protests coming from behind her. 

_ “Hola,” _ she greeted cheerily, looking down at his nametag. “Brad.”

His smile implied he sensed none of Maggie’s intent. “Hi! Can I help you?” 

“Just had some questions.”

“Sure, ma’am!”

“What language is  _ hola _ from, Brad?”

His smile faded a bit, confusion tinging his already-ruddy features. “Uh… Spanish?”

“Nice work,” she replied with as sugary a tone as she could manage. “And what about  _ ni hao?” _

A sheen of sweat broke out over the barista’s face. Some patrons and the other baristas were looking at them curiously now. “Ma’am, I should really get back to—“

“What language, Brad?”

“It’s, um, Chinese?”

To the room’s credit, the barista behind Brad groaned and rolled her eyes. Maggie had suspected this conversation might take this turn. She leaned across the counter. “No, it’s not, Brad. It’s Mandarin. This next question is also really important: How do you know if someone speaks Mandarin?”

Her point was all too obvious now, and Brad was looking for an exit. “Listen, I was just trying to be nice and welcom—“

“And you ended up looking like a clown. Come on, Brad—it’s 2019. Do we really need to have this discussion? How about we cut it with that stuff,  _ sí?” _

She could tell he had to  _ consciously _ restrain himself from saying  _ sí _ in response, but he nodded glumly and replied, “Whatever. Yes. Sorry.”

“Good. Thank you for the coffee, it’s a great latte. Have a nice day!”

As if anything could outweigh discovery of magic, Niko’s face was somehow more delightfully surprised when Maggie returned to the table. “You didn’t have to—“

“I can’t believe his name is actually Brad,” sighed Maggie, feeling satisfyingly distant from her earlier panic and not the least bit regretful at having deflected that bad energy to the blonde man.

“Well… thank you,” said Niko as she leaned back in her chair. “Maggie’s rescue service.” 

The words, the  _ very _ specific phrasing of them, made Maggie’s stomach twist with an old memory. She pushed it away under the guise of sipping her coffee. 

“So is it strange, being an empath?” the investigator asked, casually. “Hearing people’s unguarded thoughts? I bet you’d hear some terrible things. Maybe I’m just too cynical.”

“Ah, no—the gloves help protect me, too,” assured Maggie. “One time, I accidentally bodyswapped with Mel by touching her arm while we were fighting. Sometimes my power helps me get through to people who are possessed or under a magical influence. It’s like my voice drowns out whatever’s going on in their heads, at least while I’m using my powers.” 

The empath realized her mistake too late. She foresaw the unfortunate turn of the conversation just a beat before the words came out of Niko’s mouth: “So do you… do you think you could see into someone’s memories? Something they forgot, or maybe magic repressed?”

Her tongue went dry, and she had to look away from the starry-eyed investigator to gather her words. Mel’s tearful admission to the sisters that Niko seemed to at least semi-understand that something had happened in her life was nothing compared to the bone-chilling sadness in Niko’s voice as she asked the questions in person. Maggie gulped a couple mouthfuls of latte before replying, “Maybe. I’ve never tried something like that before. Usually, I only hear what people are thinking about… in the moment.”  _ Consciously or subconsciously, _ she didn’t say.

Niko’s head bobbed, and she tore off the sleeve of her coffee cup to begin the slow process of shredding it to pieces as she spoke, “I don’t know if your sister said anything, but I think something happened to me, a few months ago, that I don’t remember. One day, I was fine, and then I woke up feeling just… lost? Kind of like when you get up from the couch and walk into another room, but then you immediately forget what it was you wanted. It was that feeling, but times ten, over, and over, for months.”

_ God damn it, Mel.  _ Maggie dug her fingers into her palm to distract from the heat flushing up her neck. It wasn’t nervousness, but pure, unadulterated guilt. 

“It got to the point where I could barely leave my apartment without a panic attack, and I… Now, I think magic could help me find out what it was. Can you look in my memories for, I don’t know,  _ something, _ if I give you a date?”

_ God  _ fucking _ damn it, Mel.  _ “Sure. I can try.”

When she closed her fingers around Niko’s arm again, she didn’t look for whatever month and day the investigator had said before the connection, and she didn’t rifle around for any other memories, either. She just didn’t do anything at all, holding back her power even as she closed her eyes and held tight to someone who’d once been a regular on holidays and birthdays, if not most days of most weeks, before Marisol died.

It hadn’t occurred to her, at first, how much Niko’s absence loomed like a shadow in her own life, but sometimes that reality reached up and suckerpunched her in the gut, and the thin shadow became a spreading, Niko-shaped emptiness.

In her own mind, Maggie spent a few seconds allowing herself to remember then-Niko, with those blocky “deep thinker” glasses and the inability to say “no” to  _ any _ of the Vera women, whether Marisol asking if she might “hop” on the roof to clear the gutters or Maggie practically begging to tag along to a concert. Most of her memories included Mel, of course, but there were also the moments that lived on only in Maggie’s mind, ones that she’d successfully kept bottled up until now-Niko waltzed back into their lives. 

_ Maggie’s sitting on the steps of an unfamiliar house, on an unfamiliar street, sure that she’s going to get the lecture of a lifetime, over and over again, when the morning comes. Her cracked iPhone says 2:11 am. _

_ Denise Bergen’s party had been fun for the first few hours, but this had been Maggie’s first time drinking—and the movies and television shows did nothing to prepare her for how quickly she hit the point of vomiting and the near-inability to walk. Her stomach’s empty by now, but her muscles still occasionally clench and seize, and she coughs into a nearby flowerbed. _

_ Headlights coming up the street are intense to the point of pain, and she puts a rubbery arm over her eyes until they turn off. When she looks up, Niko’s El Camino sits whirring at the curb, and the police officer is in the middle of taking off her seatbelt.  _

_ Maggie wobbles to her feet, trying to tell Niko to stay in the car even as she rushes forward across the lawn, but just a vague assortment of syllables comes out of her acidic mouth.  _

_ “Hey, hey, kid—slow down,” says the taller woman, putting a steadying arm over Maggie’s shoulders as soon as she reached her. Niko’s wearing an oversized t-shirt and blue plaid pajama pants, which makes her feel even worse about calling her older sister’s newish girlfriend in the middle of the night for help.  _

_ “I’m sorryyy,” groans the teenager immediately, trying but only minimally helping the officer get her to the car. She’d stared at her mom and sister’s contact cards in her phone for a long few minutes before, seemingly of their own accord, her fingers clicked Call on Niko Hamada instead. Police officer, yeah, but also one of the rare adult figures in her life that she felt didn’t treat her like a baby.  _

_ “‘Sorry’? Christ Maggie, I am  _ so _ glad you called me,” says Niko as she helps the teen into the passenger seat. When she climbs in the driver’s side, her expression slips into a look of concern, and she adds quietly, “So much better than trying to drive or getting in a bad situation.” _

_ The engine turns over, and Maggie is momentarily confused. “You’re not mad?” _

_ “Maggie… Do you know how many teen parties I’ve had to break up? Like anyone could stop you delinquents.” Niko pauses before shifting the car into gear, and she puts a hand on her shoulder. “Are you… okay? Nobody… you’re just really drunk, right?” _

_ Maggie nods, leaning against the headrest. “It’s just the… alcohol.” Just saying the word makes her stomach heave, and she has to put a hand over her mouth. _

_ “Good.” The headlights come back on, and Niko pulls onto the street. _

_ The radio’s softly playing Khalid, and the cool breeze of the AC is helping calm her stomach. Maggie eventually opens her eyes, but keeps them focused on an imaginary point out the darkened window as she asks, “Are you gonna tell my Mom? Or Mel?” _

_ Niko hums thoughtfully for a moment. “No, but I think you should, when you’ve sobered up. And you have to promise me that you’ll always be safe about this stuff. It’s all fun and confusing, but it can get hairy. You can  _ always _ call me, on-duty or off, whether I’m dating your sister or not, okay kid?” _

_ Maggie turns to look at the officer as they pull to a stop light. “Deal. Officer Hamada on speed dial, for immediate rescue.” _

_ “Officer Hamada Rescue Service, or Taxi Service?” laughs Niko, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel. _

_ “Rescue Service, definitely. Not because you’re a cop—this is a Vera exclusive contract.” _

_ “Deal.” _

In the present, Maggie let go of Niko’s arm with an earnest frown, even if the source was misunderstood on the investigator’s part. “Sorry, Niko. I didn’t find anything.”

“Ah, well—thanks anyway,” the investigator perked back up. “And if you happened to see my last birthday party in there, just don’t mention it, okay?”

_ God. Damn it. Mel. _ Managing a smile, Maggie pulled her hand back across the table and stood. “Deal. I gotta run to Kappa House, so maybe we’ll talk later?”

Niko nodded, but remained sitting. “Yeah! Sure. I, uh, my wedding’s coming up, so I’ll be away for a bit, but—y’know. Have a good rest of your afternoon.”

  
As the investigator pulled out a laptop, the empath escaped out the front door, tossing her empty paper cup as she went. She had to pause and take a few deep, calming breaths as soon as she made it out of range of the diner windows. When she pulled up her phone and checked the “Favorites” list, the label still said:  _ Officer Hamada Rescue Service. _


	2. The Telekinetic

With Dr. Julia… gone… the lab had become something of a Wild West. The work volume was the same, but the organization and structure behind it? Lacking, bordering on completely absent. Macy had been trying her best to offer leadership, but she still ended up staying late most nights just to get through a backlog of work that grew and grew without Dr. Julia’s experience and knowledge to help solve problems.

Which was why, back at her locker when she’d finally called it a night, the telekinetic found the insistent buzzing of her phone particularly unpleasant, not from the noise but whatever messages they were foreshadowing.

> 8:58 Mel: So, Niko asked for a favor
> 
> 8:58 Mel: I kind of already said yes
> 
> 8:59 Mel: DNA test. She’s on her way to the lab
> 
> 9:00 Mel: BE NICE

Suddenly feeling as old as she supposed her demon was, Macy put her phone back in her locker and her lab coat back around her shoulders.

By the time she made it to the front desk area, Niko Hamada was already peering in the window next to the door, and she waved excitedly when their eyes met through the glass.

Macy’s demon rumbled unhappily as she unlocked the door, whispering about letting a stranger into such a vulnerable situation with her. _She’s human,_ Macy reasoned back to it. _I think we can take her._

“Hey! Sorry—did Mel text you?” greeted the investigator as she stepped into the entry area.

“Yeah, yes. You have some DNA?”

“For an investigation,” said Niko with a nervous smile, one hand digging blindly through her bag as she held eye contact.

Last Macy heard, Niko now knew about magic, but not the time spell, and her eyes fell to the investigator’s other hand to find the wood and stone ring Mel had given to her for protection. Niko was idly rubbing her index finger over the inside of it, and the telekinetic felt a bit of her annoyance deflate in sympathy. After what happened with Galvin, she almost wished she had never told him about any of it—and how the tables had turned now between these two unsuspecting romantic interests. She just hoped Niko handled things better than he did, for Mel’s sake if nothing else.

Eventually, she realized she was just staring back at the increasingly squirmy visitor, and she went on, “Sure, what do you have?”

As if the item were summoned by the question, Niko finally pulled her hand out of her purse, holding up a Ziploc baggie holding two smaller baggies with coffee cups inside.

“Two profiles?”

“Yep, and here’s the unsub reference.” As Macy took the bags, Niko produced a thumb drive with a small piece of red tape on the end.

“Is this for a case?”

“It’s for a guy I put away, sometime in my first year as a murder police. He contacted me recently, actually wanted to hire me to undo my own case against him. After a lot more experience and way less hotshot attitude… I think I believe him. So, I’m doing this pro bono, but I promise I won’t make a habit of asking for favors. I’ll pay for this one, if there’s a fee, too.”

Macy studied the investigator’s face, considering. She wasn’t going to say no (that was certainly a pro bono cause she could get behind), but as the late-to-the-party sister, she was least familiar with either version of Niko Hamada… and she kind of wanted to know more of what all the fuss was about, not that she hadn’t been subjected to _some_ idea of that during the weeks that Detective Hamada would stay over in Mel’s room, before the Morai spell.

“Sure. It’s no problem, no charge,” she said once that thought process was out of the way, and Niko’s responding smile was one of those bright, almost goofy ones that made Macy reflexively smile back. “You wanna come in, see what types of stuff I might be able to help you with?”

“That’d be great,” agreed the investigator with an overly enthusiastic nod.

They walked into the hallway that connected the sterile rooms and computer labs, with the witch offering a basic summary of the arms of the lab and its function in their overall work. Niko listened carefully and asked substantive questions, but Macy could tell there was more on her mind than science.

“So… heard you found out about… us,” offered the researcher as she set the samples in a tray for later processing and extraction.

“Mel says you’re a telekinetic?” blurted Niko, as if to prove she’d been just _waiting_ to ask. “Like… Jean Grey style?”

Thinking of Jean Grey and Dark Phoenix, the telekinetic almost laughed. “That is actually not a bad comparison. Did she tell you about my… _other_ thing?”

Niko raised her eyebrows, hands shoving their way into her blazer pockets as she returned a shrug.

“Well, I guess if you’re in this now, you should know—and there’s no good way to say this: I’m slowly turning into a demon, so there’s that.”

“A… demon?”

“Not sure which one, but… it’s there. Lurking. If you ever run into me with my eyes blacked out, do us all a favor, and just run?”

“Flee quickly. Duly noted.”

Macy gestured to a Pyrex beaker across the room, pulling it up and out of its holder, and then floating it towards them. Niko noticed as it bobbed into her periphery, and her eyes widened as they followed its course. Macy stalled it in front of the investigator, gave it a little spin, and then held it steady until Niko reached up to pluck the glass out of the air.

“Is is weird that my first thought was, I would really like this when the remote is too far away from the couch?”

“I have done that so, _so_ many times,” laughed the telekinetic, somewhat surprised by that reaction. “Or like when you’re in bed, really tired, and don’t want to get up to turn off the light?” Macy snapped her fingers, and the switch on a nearby wall _clicked_ down, darkening the room, and then with another snap, it moved back into the “on” position.

_“Yes,_ that is my kind of superpower,” crowed Niko, clapping her hands. “Er, I mean, witch power? Magical specialty.”

The persistently positive vibes coming her way were helping unravel some of Macy’s uneasiness about the veritable stranger, but her demon was gnashing its teeth, petulant and reluctant to rise to the mood of the room. She had to blink away a wave of its malevolence trying to bloom out of her chest, and when she looked up, the investigator was studying her closely.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she answered, too quickly.

Niko’s gaze turned inscrutable, though her spine seemed to tense. “Tell me more about the demon. Not saying I could even begin to understand, but… What’s it like?”

“It’s like…” Macy sucked in a breath, looking at the ceiling. It was still strange, to share this part of her with someone new, but she supposed Niko was a unique sounding board, because unlike everyone else in her life, the investigator didn’t have Elder baggage to color her perception of this. She leaned her hip against a table as she continued, “...like there’s this other person, or what I want to call another person, living in my bones. It’s not me, and most of the time, I can tell when its coloring what I’m saying, or doing. Except no matter how much I focus on ignoring it, it still feels like a _part_ of me. Something angry, and unforgiving. Innate.”

Nodding, Niko moved across the room to lean against the table next to her, both of them staring at the floor. Eventually, the investigator let out a little _hmph,_ and said, “I won’t say I can totally relate.”

Something about the delivery, exceedingly dry, was also so disarmingly sweet that Macy laughed a small, strained laugh and shook her head. “But?”

“But… Generally speaking, that _sounds_ familiar to me.”

“How so?”

The investigator sighed and seemed to roll some thoughts around her mouth before actually vocalizing them, “I thought I could be a different kind of police, when I joined the academy, and I did my best. _But,_ when the heart of a thing is tainted, even when you think you’re in the right… It’s really hard to separate where you begin and _it_ ends sometimes, yeah?”

Macy swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. “Yeah. Sounds about right.”

“Is there a… I mean, I’m guessing this is a little more complicated to get rid of than quitting a job?”

“Just a bit,” confirmed the witch. “But, uh, I have my sisters, and Harry, so. Things could be worse.”

“‘Things could be worse’... it’s never good when we’re at that point, huh?”

“Well hey, now that you know about magic, your definition of ‘worse’ can get a lot deeper, so there’s that, huh?”

After a beat, Niko started chuckling, the sound more wheeze than anything, and then Macy joined in, until they were full belly laughing at the empty room. It was stupid, and it felt stupidly good.

When her breathing had calmed down, Niko swiped at her eyes and sighed, “Well, I’m sorry for keeping you late. I’ll get out of your hair.”

“Thanks for… the ear, I guess. You okay getting home?”

“Ah, yeah. I’ve got the ring, anyway, so this is a magic-free temple.”

Macy automatically zeroed in on Niko’s engagement ring when the investigator lifted her hand, and she had to bite back a reaction. How ironic for it to be sitting two fingers over from the magic-blocking one, their wearer totally unaware that they existed for the same purpose: Mel intervening to protect Niko. She didn’t envy the position her sister was in, and her demon cackled at the thought of spilling the beans before Mel got the chance. Macy pummeled that idea down.

But her own human brain still managed to get so caught up in those thoughts that her mouth said, “I see it.”

“Hmm?” Niko paused with her bag halfway back up her arm. “See what?”

“I see… why you’re not exactly cut out for that cop life,” Macy quickly amended, trying to smile. “Anyway, have a good night!”

The investigator briefly narrowed her eyes, but if she wanted to push it, she didn’t. Instead, she just returned the good night and headed towards the exit. When she heard the door close, Macy hurried to lock it behind her, and then went to get her phone to text Mel.

> 9:24 Is it even possible to be mean to her?
> 
> 9:24 Mel: Like I don’t know that
> 
> 9:24 I see what you like about her though

Macy would have liked to blame the demon for that somewhat ill-advised last text, but she also just needed to get it off her chest. She watched as the typing bubble popped up, then disappeared a few times until it didn’t come back, and after a minute or two, she slipped her phone in her pocket.

**Author's Note:**

> TWO! MORE! EPISODES!
> 
> scream @ me on tumblr [@trashyeggroll](https://trashyeggroll.tumblr.com/)


End file.
